You didn't use all your vacation days. HR would like you to stop doing that.

As the calendar year comes to an end, many employees who work for companies where vacation time cannot be rolled over will likely lose a chance to escape. They’ll have justified leaving time on the table over concerns they could be replaced or laid off. But in reality these employees may be doing themselves more harm than good.

“The point is that time to renew fuels productivity rather than undermining it,” said Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, a group working to change the way the world works.

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Here are some of the major findings in the executive summary of “Vacation’s Impact on the Workplace” compiled by the Society for Human Resource Management:

Groups such as the Travel Industry Association have also been working in recent years to promote the idea of vacations being an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Yet even travel professionals sometimes find it difficult to get away for fun.

Asked in a recent interview whether he had used all of his 2013 vacation time, for example, Visit Salt Lake president and CEO Scott Beck smiled and said, “regretfully no.”